Four killed, two injured in car-tanker crash on expressway

At least four persons, three of them members of a family, were killed and two others injured when their speeding car rammed into a tanker on the Mumbai- Pune Expressway in the early hours of Friday, police said.

The mishap took place near Rasayani, on the outskirts of Mumbai, at around 5 am, when the car heading towards the metropolis rammed into the tanker moving in front of it, an official said.

The car driver lost control of the vehicle, causing the accident in which three female passengers, all members of a family, and the driver himself were killed, he said.

Two other car occupants were injured and rushed to MGM Hospital in Panvel in Navi Mumbai by the local police with the help of highway police and Delta Force personnel, the official said.

Delta Force is a special unit deployed on the expressway to help the local police in checking crimes and curbing accidents on one of the country's most modern roads.

The victims were returning to Mumbai after attending a wedding in Satara district of western Maharashtra, he said.

The bodies were shifted to a state-run hospital for post-mortem, he said, adding a case has been registered by the police.

The six-lane 94km Mumbai-Pune Expressway is popular with motorists travelling between the two cities and beyond, but has witnessed accidents with alarming regularity.